Thursday, May 01, 2008 Lopez Group won’t raise shares in Meralco
THE Lopez Group has no plan to further increase its shares in the Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
Controlling more than 33 percent of Meralco, Oscar Lopez, chairman and chief executive officer of First Philippine Holdings Corp. (FPHC), stressed that their focus is really to continue to improve the services and operations of the country’s leading distribution utilities.
"Were not going to buy additional shares right now, but we'll continue to do what we’ve been doing, operating the company to the best of our ability," Lopez told reporters during the company's listing of its preferred shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange last Wednesday.
Lopez also denied having knowledge on the issues and ultimate plan of Winston Garcia, president of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), which recently acquired the government’s 10 percent share in Meralco.
"I don't know about the ultimate plan of Mr. Garcia, whether he is doing this in order to get a better price for his share because that is his main business, to go in the company and try to shake it, to get a good price," he said.
It was reported that Garcia was sending letters to the Meralco board and asking for the copies of the audited financial statements of the company, reports of its commercial transactions and other documents saying it is part of “transparency”.
"We'll try to cooperate as much as we can but there are things that are beyond our control. When oil prices are up, everything goes up," Lopez said.
Elpidio Ibañez, president and chief operating officer of FPHC, echoed the statement of Lopez of not planning to increase their share in Meralco.
"We are quite comfortable with the level that we are in. We're quite happy with 33.4 percent," Ibañez said.
According to him, both FPHC and GSIS are investors of Meralco and should therefore have the same objective.
"We just have to come to an agreement with the way forward," Ibañez added.
FPHC stakes climbed to 33.4 percent in Meralco after acquiring the shares of its Spanish partner, Union Fenosa International S.A. and the shares of Meralco Pension Fund.
FPHC's major investments are in power through First Gen Corp. and infrastructure, namely, Manila North Tollways Corp.
Aside from GSIS, other government-owned and controlled corporations have shares in Meralco.
Earlier, FPHC listed with the Securities and Exchange Commission a total of P30 million preferred shares, which will be sold to raise funds for its debt refinancing and strategic acquisitions. (MSN/Sunnex)
